When discussing the impact of global climate change on our daily life and health, the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect is often mentioned as an additional source of heat stress for urbanize areas. In fact, the term “Urban Heat Island” can be traced back at least to 1833 when Luke Howard published ...

Shortly before Christmas Day, I want to take just a quick moment to extend to you, on behalf of myself, Michael, and our team, a very Merry Christmas and happy holiday wishes. I have always said how absolutely blessed I feel to be able to have the opportunity to meet, connect, and interact with so [...

Aside from the aesthetic benefits, trees and other vegetation help mitigate the effects of the urban heat island (UHI) by increasing the latent heat flux through evapotranspiration, resulting in cool leaves and hence lower air temperatures. In addition, they cast shadows on buildings and other artif...

Water availability is the key factor when looking at thermal performances of natural soils and vegetation. Let’s have a look at the soil: If the soil begins to dry out, it loses its capability to “destroy” the incoming energy through evaporation. Of course, the energy is not really “destroye...

This question is often asked these days where many regions around the world suffer from heat stress periods and drought. There are two aspects dictating the answer to this question: On the one hand, the current weather and air temperature are driven by the large scale meteorological circulation syst...

Most of the time, the predicted weather forecasts for a specific location gives little to no indication on whether one feels comfortable in a prevailing climate. Information about the expected air temperature does not necessarily help to decide how people might sense a place’s thermal comfort. Ski...

A few weeks ago, we explained the importance of roof greening to improve the microclimate in urban areas. There are no doubts that these urban greening elements are able to reduce the air temperature by plant/water-atmosphere-interaction through evaporation. It is, however, hard to evaluate the effi...

Today people all around the globe will come together to celebrate the Earth Day – according to the United Nations, International Mother Earth Day is celebrated to remind each of us that the Earth and its ecosystems provide us with life and sustenance. This Day also recognizes a collective resp...